30 Years Ago

From The Files Of March 5, 1981

A large storage warehouse, located four miles west of Hancock and owned by Fairview Orchards, was damaged to the extent of $500,000 to the building and contents, in a fire on Saturday evening which apparently was deliberately set. The state fire marshal said he believes the fire is related to a series of arsons which have occurred in the Hancock area over the past few years. A total of 35 fires have been set in the past five years, mostly in vacant buildings. In Saturday’s fire, intense heat and toxic fumes given off by 200 tons of fertilizer and pesticides stored in the warehouse kept firefighters out of the burning building.

In about a month, Fulton County residents will again be able to walk into their local library and borrow books. A temporary library is being planned to open in a room in the CETA office building, the courthouse annex, on North Second Street in McConnellsburg. It will be the first attempt to re-establish a library in the county since the last one, located on North Third Street, closed almost three years ago.

Former owner Helen McLaughlin cut the ribbon marking the opening of the new location of McLaughlin’s Drug Store in Penn’s Village Shopping Center.

Ground was broken for a new 8,000-square-foot addition to the Overly-Raker manufacturing facilities on Route 522 north. The new addition will house the company’s sewing and cutting operations.

Jim Duffey, a senior halfback on the McConnellsburg High School soccer team, has been named to the 1980 All State Interscholastic Soccer Team of Pennsylvania.

Births at the Medical Center: a son to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Royer of Berkeley Springs on February 20; a son to Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell Sipes of Hustontown on February 21; a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Walter Strait of Fort Littleton on February 21; a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Perry Bradnick of Mercersburg on February 21; a daughter to Mr. and Mrs. Steve Briggs of Fannettsburg on February 23.